SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One day in, one athlete on.
University of New Mexico track & field athlete Alice Wright punched her ticket to her fourth-straight NCAA Championship Thursday night as she place second in the women’s 10,000-meter run on the opening day of the 2018 NCAA West Preliminary Round.
Wright, who has qualified to next month’s NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, was just one UNM athlete to enjoy success on the first day of the three-day meet at Hornet Stadium in Austin, as four other Lobos advanced further at the West Preliminaries.
Josh Kerr, Ian Crowe-Wright, Carlos Salcido and Michael Wilson all moved on to the quarterfinal round of their respective events at the meet via their performances on Thursday.
The top 48 athletes and top 24 relay teams in the NCAA West Region qualify to the West Prelims, where the top 12 finishers in each event advance on to the NCAA Championships.
Through the first day of action of the West Prelims, Wright was the headliner as she qualified to her fourth-straight NCAA Championships in the 10,000.
For the FOURTH year in a row, Alice Wright has qualified to the NCAA Championships in the 10,000-meter run! She takes second Thursday evening at the NCAA West Prelims in Sacramento! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/7wHG6q5OMO
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) May 25, 2018
She opened the 25-lap race right at the front, a position she never truly relinquished throughout the race as she ran with a lead pack of a half dozen runners for most of the race.
Although she finally yielded the lead on the bell lap, Wright’s time of 32 minutes, 19.03 seconds easily secured the requisite top-12 finish needed to advance to the NCAA finals in Eugene.
Her time barely missed her own school record of 32:15.73 set in March and was the second-fastest time in West Prelims history.
Thursday’s effort was also the fourth top-two finish in the event for Wright at the NCAA West Prelims, following a win in 2017 and pair of runner-up showings in 2015 and 2016.
Already a three-time All-American in the 10K, Wright also became the first female athlete in program history to make four straight NCAA Championships in any event.
She is also the only athlete to advance out of the West Region in the 10K in four consecutive seasons since the NCAA reconfigured its regions in 2010.
Also on Thursday, four other Lobos advanced through to the quarterfinals of their events, with two in the 1500 and one each in the 400 and 800.
Kerr, the defending NCAA champion in the 1500 meter run, continued his title defense with a strong victory in Thursday’s preliminary round, winning the race in 3:44.50 to secure the requisite top-five finish to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Although far from his seed time of 3:35.01 that doubles as the NCAA record, Kerr navigated the first phase of NCAAs with veteran savvy, sitting early in his race before kicking his way to a comfortable win.
Crowe-Wright also snagged a top-five finish in his heat, running a time of 4:01.73 to place second in his race.
In the 400, Salcido dazzled with a personal-record time of 45.99 that easily won his heat and placed fourth overall. He moved up to third all-time in New Mexico history in the event and was just one of four runners in the 48-athlete field to dip under 46 seconds.
Wilson also advanced on Thursday, kicking late in his heat of the 800 to register a time of 1:49.50 that placed sixth overall.
Elsewhere, six other Lobos competed on Thursday, but were unable to advance.
On the track, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen placed 32nd overall in the prelims of the 800 (time of 1:51.60), while Sophie Eckel finished 36th in the 10,000 (34:22.06)
In the field events, Ada’ora Chigbo tied for 21st in the women’s high jump (5 feet, 8 ¾ inches), Michelle Traynham finished 36th in the women’s javelin throw (138-10) and Tanner Battikha placed 40th in the men’s long jump (23-3 ½).
New Mexico will have five athletes in action on Friday starting with Salcido in the 400-meter quarterfinals (6:30 p.m. MT) and Wilson in the 800-meter quarterfinals (7:30 p.m. MT).
The Lobos will also have a trio competing in the quarterfinal round of the 3000-meter steeplechase, with Jonny Glen in the men’s race (9:20 p.m. MT) and Charlotte Prouse and Alondra Negron Texidor in the women’s race (10 p.m. MT).
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